Hi, I have a question here that has a simple answer. It's just that I don't know it lol. I have a windows 98 pc and the rom drive which is (D won't accept cd's or dvd's so I want to re-format the whole pc. The HD on the pc is the (C, so if I re-format my (C, will that reset the whole pc including the rom drive? As I said, it's a simple answer if you know it Thanks sandisk
reformatting isn't going to help with this, i dont' think. if you're reinstalled the rom drive and changed IDE cables, and it's still not working,then i'd say the drive is dead. if you've got no other problems with windows, there's no reason to reformat.
Hi there sandisk, No, a format of the hd will not reset anything except the hd. And with a format you will loose all your data on your drive and you would need to install win98 and all your programs all over again! But back to the romdrive problem, if your rom was working fine at one point and stoped funtioning at another, there could be muliple causes. 1. some software you installed recently is interfering with you rom drive software 2. a virus has infected your pc (download a free virusscanner) 3. your ide cable (that connects with you motherboard) has loosened (make sure that they are connected properly, by pressing them in their sockets) 4. could be a MS windows problem, compatibility issues(reinstalling win98 can help)(?) 5. you cd-rom drive is simply broken,(if it doesnt work in another pc, buy a new one) but if you an give some further detailed info a how your romdrive behaves,i can be of more assistance.
Oh yes, there is still lots of other problems with the pc. It's an old pc that I have in my mams but the wife could just use it for emailing and stuff because she can't get a minute on my one lol. Basically when i insert a disc, it doesn't load up. If I double click on the (D it says device not ready even though there is a disc in it. Even with no disc in it, it says the same thing. When I turn on the pc, I hear a ringing noise and an error msg comes up saying abnormal hardware press any key and then the pc just loads into a menu as in "safe mode", "Normal", "command" and so on. Sometime when i do get into normal mode and i run the maintence wizard, another msg pops up saying "this have performed an illegal operation and must close" and the pc knocks off. I can't even run any anti-virus because it won't accept the disc's. I downloaded spybot and when I hit .exe to run it, it says error cannot install. Believe me, I havn't got a clue when it comes to this part of computers but I got a tutorial on how to format windows 98 so I'll have to buy some blank floppy's and I'll download the 98 files and have a go. To be honest Auslander, I wouldn't know how to re-install the rom drive and I don't even know what the IDE cables are lol. Do you think if I re-formatted, that i could save the pc? I know it's old but as I said, it would do herself for mailing and stuff like that. Thanks for the reply. Sandisk
oh [bold]wow[/bold]. yeah, a reformat is a great idea, i think. be sure to back up any data you don't want to lose, then have at it. it might fix everything, it might fix everything but the rom drive. either way, you'll be better off with a machine that's more stable and reliable.
Sorry retro78 I only saw your post now. It's an old pc and hasn't been used for months now but I think my niece messed it up. I don't mind losing any programs on that pc as I'm happy enough with what i'm on here but i'd hate to let it go to waste if it can be saved. Even when I download spyware material from that pc, as soon as I try run it, it won't run, I get error msgs. I burned numerous spyware material to disc from my pc here but it won't load up in the drive. I wouldn't know how to try the rom in another pc. How would I try making sure the ide cable is securely connected, would I have to open up the pc? I'm even dreading trying a re-format and re-installing windows98. I'll print out the tutorial and bring it to my mams house where the pc is. Thanks for the replys here guy's but your dealing with a nOOb when it comes to this part of a pc. Thanks sandisk
to check the ide cable, you would have to open the pc. it's a white-gray ribbon with blue/black ends running from the motherboard to the back of the drive. as long as you've got it open, spray out the dusk with a can of air and make sure nothing looks burned. also, check that all the fans are operating correctly--it's not necessary, but good preventative maintenance.
Ok thanks for the help so far. I'm going to buy some floppys tomorrow but I'll try open it tomorrow before I do a re-format. I'll post the results here tomorrow either way (1.30am here now lol) One final thing, if i do have to re-format, can I upgrade to windows 2000 because i actually that on dics here rather that downloading the windows 98 files. Thanks again Sandisk
you could, but it's not going to perform as well on that machine, with all it's old hardware. it's designed for windows 98, and that's what you're best off using.
formating is not prudent action this moment... if you format the hd, and it isn't the software but the rom-drive is broken, you have no way of installing windows. http://www.fonerbooks.com/r_cd.htm ^here you can see how you can remove/install a drive, also get familiar with the ide cables! try pluging them in properly first, before you take drastic actions ( ello aulander, long time no see )
howdy, retro. sandisk said he could get windows 98 on floppy, and that's an easy way to take care of lots of his problems right now. he can get a new rom later, if it comes to that.
Thanks for the replys. I'm not gonna do anything yet because I'm still very unsure of what I'm doing here. Firstly I will have a look a the cables before I try a re-fomat and hopefull that will sort the drive but I doubt it. Auslander, I don't actually have windows 98 on floppy yet but if I follow this copy/paste tutorial, will this put windows 98 on a blank floppy from the pc in question? as there is no floppy drive on my pc? Here is the tut...... 1. Start the PC 2. Create a boot disk. To do this, go to Start -> Settings -> Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs -> Startup Disk. Follow the instructions on that screen. 3. Make sure your 'First Boot Device' in the BIOS is set to 'Floppy' 4. With the boot disk inside the floppy drive, boot up the computer. 5. When asked, select 'Start computer with CD-ROM support' 6. It'll display some messages. At the end, it'll show something like this: Drive E:MSCD001 Just note the alphabet before the colon ), in this case, E 7. Since you mentioned that your PC is old, I suggest you repartition it's HDD. The command is fdisk. Now format the partitions that you created with the format command. More information on http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q255867/ 7. Insert the CD with the Windows 98 Setup files in your CD-ROM Drive. 8. Type the letter which you got earlier, followed by a colon. (E, and press enter. 9. Type dir /a and press enter. 10. Look for the Windows 98 directory (just as you look in windows, but the name will be not more than 8 characters) 11. Say the folder name is WIN98SE, type cd win98se and press enter. 12. Type setup and press enter. 13. Now, follow the instructions on the screen. Seems like a good tut to me but I'm still lost really. If i follow this, will it make a windows 98 floppy? Sorry about this guys but I'm kinda lost lol. Thanks Sandisk
Sorry, it's actually becoming slightly clearer to me lol. Yes there is a floppy drive on the pc. I thought I had to have the windows 98 files on floppy which I don't. I'm just after buying a pack of blank floppy's a few minutes ago so I'm going to try and make a bootable floppy from the add/remove programs on the windows 98 pc. I have a verbatim disc here with windows 98 se files on it so after the re-format, hopefully the (D accepts the cd and I can load a clean windows 98 onto the pc. If it doesn't accept the cd, well then I take it that the rom drive is bunched. If I do the re-format and it still doesn't accept the disc and I can't load up windows, can I buy a rom drive and then still load up windows 98 at a later date? Thanks guys Sandisk
Hi guys, sorry in the delay in getting back to you's on this but dying with flu for the past couple of days. I think I made a total mess of the pc the other night. I went to the pc with the hope of re-formatting the pc so first i had to make a boot disk right. So I bought the floppys, went to my mams, put in the blank floppy, went to add/remove programs and went to create book disk. I thought great, so far so good!! It start making the boot disk but as soon as it hit 20%, it just stopped. At that stage I just had a pain in the ass with the pc was really pis*ed off because it took me about 20 goes to make windows start up at all and then this happened. I had enough and thought damn it, I'm going to re-format and I'll try get a boot disk from a mate. So I re-formatted and everything was deleted from the pc. The next mornin even though sick, I got a friend of mine to download a windows 98 se bookdisk from bootdisk.com and put it to floppy for me. I thought at least this should be it now. I put the floppy in the floppy drive and it said "invalid system disk, please insert system disk". I havn't been near that pc since. Have I totally messed it up or can it be salvaged? I also tried putting the windows 98 in the rom drive but nothing happens. Basically it's a pc that will start up but thats all, no windows will start up, just like a command prompt. Before I decide to throw the pc out the window, any chance it can be saved? Thanks again Sandisk
Or a spare ROM drive you can try. Lots of people have spares because they bought burners. or try the drive in another computer
Thanks for the replys. At the minute I can't think of any of my mates that have 98 or me. I don't mind putting any version of windows on it if it's possible. The way the pc is now, with nothing on it, if I was to put a version of windows in the rom drive, should it load up ?? Or was that why I needed the bootdisk? I kinda lost on what to do next? Thats if there is a next lol. Thanks Sandisk
Any suggestions on this? I have a pc that will start up but no windows on it. If I put a version of windows in the rom drive, nothing happens. I can't even try installing a new rom drive because the pc won't let me install the software that will come with the new rom drive. I'm stuck. Any more suggestions? thanks Sandisk
